Union bosses last night claimed that nurses and allied staff had accepted a new pay deal under "duress'' in a bid to avoid strike action.

General Secretary of the Bermuda Public Services Association (BPSA) Ed Ball said the 500 staff at the Island's two hospitals had accepted the new pay offer because they did not want to put patients at risk.

The deal followed months of wrangling between the union and the Bermuda Hospital Board (BHB) over pay and conditions.

A deal was originally struck in March, but nurses became disgruntled a fortnight ago, claiming they had not received the pay rise they had believed they had agreed to.

As a result, more negotiations were held, strike action was threatened, and labour relations mediators were brought in.

And on Friday, the union and the board released a joint statement announcing that the nurses and allied health staff had accepted a new increased pay deal.

But last night, Mr. Ball released a further statement.

He said: "We have accepted this offer for the benefit of our patients and the community by avoiding strike action. We have always acted in an honest manner throughout discussions; therefore, the acceptance is conditional on future negotiations and honest dialogue with the board regarding pay and conditions.

"We have accepted that the BHB has said it has no money; therefore, while it finds funds, we are not willing to risk any potential harm to patients.

"We would like to inform the public that we will continue to advocate for them to ensure they have access to the best health.

"We will continue to push for improvements in conditions and equipment etc.'' The latest dispute arose after the nurses believed they had agreed to a two-scale pay increase from April this year.

However, the board believed they had agreed a staggered two-scale pay increase -- one scale this April and the second one in April of next year.

The union claimed it was not what it had agreed to, while the board claimed the union had misunderstood the offer.

`Deal agreed to avoid strike Chairwoman of the board Ianthia Simmons-Wade was not available last night, but she has repeatedly stated how the board was aware of increased pay deals and benefits for nurses overseas, and how it was attempting to retain and attract nurses in Bermuda by improving packages. And last week, just before the nurses agreed to the new pay deal, she said: "The Bermuda Hospital's Board has decided that it will be detrimental to patient care, the nurses and our community if this dispute drags out any longer.

"Therefore, we are going to pay the nurses the sums over which there was a misunderstanding with the BPSA in order to bring this dispute to a speedy and conclusive resolution.'' The nurses are to negotiate another pay increase, as part of scheduled negotiations, later on in the year.